Skip to main content

Ann Arbor Real Estate Blog

Blog about Ann Arbor and Saline Michigan

The NEW Good Faith Estimate for Ann Arbor Home Buyers to Look At

Here is a look at the new Good Faith Estimate if you are buying or going to be buying a home in the Ann Arbor Area.

This is the first change to the form in 17 years. The whole idea of a new form was to make the lending process more transparent to the consumers.  It encourages you to shop for a loan and make comparisons.

One of the biggest complaints was buyers getting to the settlement table and fees being different than what was expected to the consumer.

In the current form all the fees are grouped together by category, the form is standard to everyone buying in the U.S, and their is little room for fees being changed at closing.

The only 3 things that can be changed after you have applied for a loan is:

1) The cost of where you got your title insurance, the attorney fees, deposit into your escrow account (for taxes, insurance), the daily interest changes.

Once your lender gives you your good faith estimate, the origination fee can not change, the interest rate.

At the closing or settlement table you will be asked to compare and fill in the numbers on the HUD and the GFE so that they match up.

A few items can be change within 10% of the quote.

  • The required services that the lender quoted.
  • The Title Services if the lender chose them
  • Owners title policy
  • Government recording fees.

Tomorrow we will talk about “Special Circumstances” that would allow changes on the GFE. I know this is confusing, we went from a 0ne page GFE to a 3 page GFE.  But, the intent was to give better numbers to you the buyers.

You can download the book on the HUD.gov web site called Shopping for Home Loans, HUD’s Settlement Cost.

Thoughts?

%d bloggers like this: